Bamboo
Roots gripping the earth close,
Tracing a fine, black artwork
Bamboo shoots skyward.
This past week's prompt, "Bamboo," led me to think of the oldest, and perhaps most "organic" (choosing the definition of "fundamental" here) forms of poetry - the haiku.
Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry based not on rhyme, but on syllable count. In Japan, the three line poem has a syllable count of 5-7-5. However, English translations from the Japanese don't have the exact same number of syllables, so it has been argued that haiku written in English can have a few extra syllables to make up for the fact that Japanese language is concise. I personally agree with this, however, I find it challenging to TRY to make my English haiku fit the original Japanese rules.
Haiku are usually written on a subject that has to do with the natural world. Hence, I chose the haiku to write about bamboo.
